He is a different character, I totally agree. Good idea to go in with fewer expectations. Comparing it to the book might ruin your experience a bit.
It is interesting how this film creates the conflict of the wife coming up with possible solutions to keep them together. Knowing how this ends, this part stings. The book has Robert drawn back to the woods without much consideration if I remember correctly, it’s just what he does. Maybe I am misremembering, though.
There is a coldness and artificiality to the framing of the nature shots—great point. I haven’t thought about it that way since seeing the film. I somehow appreciate that emotional distance more in the context of the film’s messages (as opposed to the book’s messages). Robert is forever a spectator to nature, to history. He is always apart from the world he observes.
Was wondering how theyd do the fucked up wolf girl stuff. I’d say this is the best way to film it, I guess.
Ending got me. Warmed to this overall even if I couldn’t fully separate it from the book. I think my biggest gripe is the narration, specifically why they didn’t use Johnson’s actual prose for it.
The narration is proof about the rumor that Netflix is requiring more exposition in the movies they bankroll.
I didn’t mind the narration, though in general I feel like if you’re going to have a narrator like this, it should be the character’s own internal thoughts and limited perspective. That allows for a more creative approach that feels more like showing than telling, even when it is telling
just snagged a ticket to a 35mm screening followed by a Q&A with Clint Bentley what should I ask him?
I wanted to ask how Robert kept his beard so well groomed without looking in a mirror for 10 years but I wasn't trying to pull a cinema sins on him.
It was okay but kind of generic tbh. Just talked about his partner Greg who he's worked with on all his films. And how they have all been done independently and then shopped at festivals and sold to get distribution. There was a lot of talk about the 35mm print and how it was made. The part I found most interesting was when he took the film to Sundance and Netflix bought it, he didn't have a song for the closing credits. He mentioned wanting Nick Cave but thought that was a pipe dream but Joel Edgerton reached out to him (they had worked together previously) and Nick said he was pretty busy but would be happy to license a song. Joel convinced him to watch the film and Nick called him the next day and said he had been dreaming about the movie all night and woke up and had already written lyrics. They took a piece of the score and expounded upon it and added Nick's vocals to get the song that plays over the credits. Also, maybe this is common knowledge but I'm dumb and didn't realize the score was done by the dude from The National.
Second viewing last night bumped this from a 9 to a 10. My favorite of 2025. Beautiful, ain't it? Just beautiful. What is, Arn? All of it. Every bit of it.
The dude from Foxes in Fiction gave this a half-star on Letterboxd. I don’t agree with it overall but there are sentiments that I somewhat get. https://boxd.it/dvRLxb
I do think the sterility is a feature not a flaw, and maybe the intent of the emotional distance went over his head. But I get where he’s coming from